J Korean Med Sci.  2016 Apr;31(4):568-578. 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.4.568.

Regional Deprivation Index and Socioeconomic Inequalities Related to Infant Deaths in Korea

• Yun JW
• Kim YJ
• Son M

• KMID: 2363696
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2016.31.4.568

Abstract

Deprivation indices have been widely used to evaluate neighborhood socioeconomic status and therefore examine individuals within their regional context. Although some studies on the development of deprivation indices were conducted in Korea, additional research is needed to construct a more valid and reliable deprivation index. Therefore, a new deprivation index, named the K index, was constructed using principal component analysis. This index was compared with the Carstairs, Townsend and Choi indices. A possible association between infant death and deprivation was explored using the K index. The K index had a higher correlation with the infant mortality rate than did the other three indices. The regional deprivation quintiles were unequally distributed throughout the country. Despite the overall trend of gradually decreasing infant mortality rates, inequalities in infant deaths according to the deprivation quintiles persisted and widened. Despite its significance, the regional deprivation variable had a smaller effect on infant deaths than did individual variables. The K index functions as a deprivation index, and we may use this index to estimate the regional socioeconomic status in Korea. We found that inequalities in infant deaths according to the time trend persisted. To reduce the health inequalities among infants in Korea, regional deprivation should be considered.

Keyword

Social Class; Infant Death; Reliability and Validity

MeSH Terms

Adult
Databases, Factual
Female
Humans
Infant
*Infant Death
Male
Parents
Poverty
Principal Component Analysis
Proportional Hazards Models
Republic of Korea
Retrospective Studies
*Social Class

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Scatter plots of the infant mortality rate, K index and Carstairs index for 242 regions. (A) Scatter plot correlating the infant mortality rate and the K index. (B) Scatter plot correlating the infant mortality rate with the Carstairs index. (C) Scatter plot correlating the infant mortality rate with the Townsend index. (D) Scatter plot correlating the infant mortality rate with the Choi index. (E) Scatter plot correlating the Carstairs index with the K index.

• 

  Fig. 2 The distribution of regional deprivation quintiles throughout Korea. Q1, The least deprived quintiles; Q5, The most deprived quintiles; S, South; N, North.

• 

  Fig 3 Time trends for infant mortality rate and hazard ratio according to the deprivation quintiles. (A) Time trend for the infant mortality rate according to the deprivation quintiles. (B) Time trend for the hazard ratios of infant deaths according to the deprivation quintiles. Q1, the least deprived quintiles; Q5, the most deprived quintiles; the reference value of the hazard ratio was 1.000 at the Q1 for the K index.

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